ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the central problems in discussing marginal regions: the issue of scale. The phrase 'marginality is a state of mind' may sound simplistic, but it does hold some truth. A newspaper article published a regional Swiss paper furnishes a telling example. The marginal world is that part of the globe that experiences most political unrest and civil wars, and that as a consequence receives most refugees in innumerable temporary camps, the 'archipelago of misery' as Rufin calls them, that risk to become the home of many for an unknown length of time. The old globality system broke down definitely with decolonization but signs of a change had been visible before. The modern system is very flexible and characterized by a hierarchy of firms that are linked in a subcontracting relationship. The idea that the privatization of services as a result of deregulation would automatically be beneficial to society is not necessarily appropriate.
